Martin met students at Princess Margaret high school in suburban Vancouver on Tuesday to talk about problems with drugs and gangs, and his proposal to ban most handguns. NDP Leader Jack Layton speaks to supporters during a campaign stop Regina on Tuesday. A statue of Tommy Douglas is in the background. (CP / Chuck Stoody)

Harper promises to boost defence spending

Updated Tue. Dec. 13 2005 11:34 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Conservative Leader Stephen Harper promised to significantly boost defence spending, part of a strategy to empower Canadian military to become more self-reliant.

"To be truly sovereign, we must be able to deploy our forces and equipment, where they are needed, when they are needed," he said Tuesday, speaking in Trenton, Ont.

Harper said it's a national embarrassment that Canada has had to rent Russian-made Antonovs or hitch a ride on U.S. C-17 transport planes for overseas missions.

"To put it bluntly, hitchers may get to their destination but they don't get to pick the route and timing," he said.

The Tory plan would amount to an annual $1.8 billion increase on top of projected spending by the Martin Liberals by 2010-2011. The minority Liberal government committed $12.8 billion over five years to military expansion in last February's budget.

Harper said the additional money will go toward:

• Buying at least three new strategic lift aircraft;
• Creating a new, 650-strong airborne battalion; and
• Doubling the size and capacity of Canada's Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to enhance international disaster relief capability.

"Our Forces stand on guard for us, both at home and around the world. So we must stand up for them," Harper said.

"The men and women who put on the uniform of Canada must have the tools they need to protect themselves and do their job."

He cited the 1991 Manitoba floods, the 1998 Quebec ice storm, the current mission in Afghanistan and the 2005 South Asian tsunami relief operation as examples of Canada's armed forces requiring a ride from the Americans or Russians.

Harper said the new lift aircraft -- which would replace the military's aging fleet of C-130 Hercules tactical transport planes -- would be based in CFB Trenton, along with the new airborne battalion. The base has parachute training capability.

However, a Canadian Press analysis said Canadian troops haven't parachuted into battle since 1995, and that the entire army is being tailored into a medium-to-light infantry force.

Harper said more Conservative announcements regarding the military -- including increases to military personnel and other equipment -- will be revealed in the coming days.

The larger plan is to recruit another 15,000 soldiers and buy new tanks and helicopter-carrying warships.

Prime Minister Maul Martin said the Tory plan was a virtual copy of the Liberals' spending commitments in the last budget.

"We put in place the whole purchasing policy in terms of new planes, new helicopters and new ships," he said.

About a week before the election was called, the Liberals announced plans to purchase 16 Hercules replacements.

The Liberals have said they don't see heavy-lift aircraft as cost-effective, believing instead in "assured access" to such transport aircraft.

Party spokesmen elaborate

Gordon O'Connor, the Conservative defence critic, told CTV Newsnet's Mike Duffy Live that his party would actually spend $5.3 billion more over five years than the Liberals.

"What Mr. Harper was quoting was that at the end of five years, based on the Liberal numbers, our budget would be $1.8 billion above theirs."

Four other elements of the Tory defence plan will come out over the campaign, but they will be accommodated within today's spending announcement, O'Connor said.

Defence Minister Bill Graham said the government passed the biggest defence spending increase in 20 years as part of a strategy to modernize the forces.

O'Connor said the Tories have their own defence policy, which overlaps in some areas with the existing Liberal policy but will diverge in others.

Graham sounded scornful about the notion of a reconstituted airborne regiment, noting Canada has JTF 2, the secretive special forces unit.

"JTF 2 is to deal with terrorism," O'Connor said.

The airborne regiment is intended to protect Canadian sovereignty, he said.

"Right now, we have no capacity to move our troops through our vast, uncharted territories, especially in the north," he said.

"With an airborne capacity, with the new fleet of aircraft we are acquiring, we will be able to deploy troops anywhere within our landmass. We cannot do that at this time," O'Connor said.

Peter Mancini, an NDP candidate in Halifax, said his party agrees there needs to be an enhanced ability to protect sovereignty.

But military families also need to be better looked after, especially in the areas of housing, he said.

"Military salaries need to be increased, so our service personnel know they have the respect that they deserve," Mancini said.

Graham said armed forces salaries are the only branch of the civil service indexed to inflation.

Harper's Iraq stance

The Tory leader also reiterated his stand on Iraq.

Asked by reporters if a Conservative government would send soldiers to the country, Harper replied: "Our government would not be sending troops to Iraq. We want to encourage American success there. We want to see democracy, but our role is in Afghanistan, it's not in Iraq."

The questions follow a commentary in the right-wing Washington Times newspaper which recently came to light, calling Harper the "poster boy" for U.S. President George Bush's ideal foreign leader.

"The article in the Washington Times was the reflected opinion of one individual," said Harper. "And we need to express our policy in that area."

It's a position, however, that stands in stark contrast to one he held in 2003 -- when he was highly critical of then-prime minister Jean Chretien's refusal to send Canadian troops to Iraq.

Harper wouldn't rule out joining the U.S. national missile defence system.

"If we receive a proposal from the Americans, we will only sign on to it if we believe it is in Canada's best interests," he said.

 

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